Spokane County, Washington - Chapter 14: Spok.\ne City to 1880, 1900

"There is but one Spokane." "In earlier ages population gathered chiefly in cities, but for reasons which were tem])orary. Men sought the protection from marauders which was affordlcd by the walled towns. They went to their fields in the morning and returned at night. But with the establishment of social order, the men who tilled the soil began to live upon it. The growth of the modern city is due to causes which are permanent. The phenomenal growth of the modern city is due to a redistribution of the jiopulation." - Dr. Josiah .Strong, in "The Twentieth Century City."

"Upon this gravel plain, just above where Hangman's Creek joins the Spokane, is situated the city of .Spokane Falls, and it certainly is not excelled in the \\hole world as a townsite." - Lieutenant Synions.

This is an age of concentration wiiich leads to the congregating of [jeople in cities. Truly it has been said that in nearly every state one city beconus the type and representation of the whole state itself - Chicago, in Illinois: San Francisco, in California: Portland in Oregon. The same statement can be applied to counties. Spokane city is Spokane county. Being tiiat

Spokane is the oldest town as well as the largest city in this county, it is but fair that it should the first and most prominent place in this histor}'.

Spokane lies in latitude forty-seven degrees forty minutes north ; longitude one hundred and seventeen degrees twenty-five minutes west, and at an altitude of nearly two thousand feet above sea level. It is the eastern gateway to the vast northwest, the largest city from the Mississippi river to the Puget Sound. It is situated about eighteen miles from the Idaho line, and about midway between the northern and southern boundaries of the state. It is four hundred miles distant from Helena to the east, and nearly an etpial distance from Portland, Seattle and Tacoma to the west, and farther from Salt Lake City. Utah, the nearest city of any considerable size to the south, and there is no city of commercial importance to the north of it. Thus it is a city most happily and commandingly situated in the center of a territory with no prospects of a rival that can obtain a like foothold. The literature of Spokane is quite extensive, and some of it even brilliant. Some attempts at prophecy have pro\ed the authors deficient in the necessary gifts. But on the whole the history of the city as presented in current literature has been reliable and full of interest, and has done much to make known its advantages. To all the early and late chroniclers of the events connected with the formative period and development of the city and county, the writer is under great obligation and cheerfully makes this -acknowledgment. Great cities are often located beside great waters. It is evident that the hand of destiny or Providence marked the region around the falls as a populous citv. Xo wonder that the groves around the falls were the camping grounds of the aboriginal Spokanes for ages unkni)wn, fur a more delightful spot Wduld be difficult to find when in its natural state. And a more advantageous site fur a great city one may travel long to find. The early explorer was naturally attracted here by the great waterfall of the Spokane river. It is not only beautiful and picturesque, but easily utilized as a motive power. The Spokane river flows througli the heart of the city with an average volume of one hundred and twenty thousand cubic feet per minute. It flows through channels of basaltic rock and within a mile and a half it falls one hundred and fifty feet. The river has it source in the Coeur d'.Mene lake, a great mountain reservoir thirty miles long and from three to six miles in width and of great depth. The lake is thirty miles east of the city. Dr. Hines says : "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is this Spokane." "The city is located in the very heart of the most ])erfect scenic poem. Form and color and motion have their most perfect blending. Woodlands, lawns and waters mingle green softness, gray soberness and sil- \er brightness in one long and broad picture such as no hand but that of the Infinite Artist could ever touch. Just where the Spokane ri\er, which has come wandering down through the plains from the northeast for many miles, breaks into laughing ripples, then speeds a*vay through the various channels for a half-mile race of flashing and jeweled beauty, and then leaps and rushes out of sight into the deep balsatic chasms of its lower flow, the city crosses plain and river, and rises up the hillslopes that echo back the soft and incomparable music of the cascade.

"The divine marvel of its jeweled setting is matched by the human marvel of its own growth and beauty. Only twenty years ago a pioneer explorer, searching for a way through an uninhabited wild, accompanied only by his wife a pioneer like himself, found himself so bewildered in the unpathed intricacies of pine forests and basaltic precipices at the nightfall of a long June day of weary travel, that he was compelled to stop and halt and camp for the night under a pine tree's protection without fond for supper or breakfast. The morning \\t>ke them with the tremulous music of near

^vatel-fall filling the air. They found that they had camped where the spray of Spokane falls almost moistened their brow. Against the gray breast of a distant hill a few blue wreaths of smoke from some Indian wigwam was all that told of humanity near. Then the writer first saw this spot ; but he did not dream that night of all that he would see here only twenty years later." - History of Washington.

It is difficult for us to follow or even conceive the rapid transformation which has resulted in the scenes now faiuiliar to us. Many of us can hardly imagine the conditions as they were less than three decades ago, before any changes had resulted from human labor and ingenuity. There was naught then but a wide prairie surrounded with hills and pine trees. Here and there Indian tepees might be seen with white smoke rising from the centre and around them some socalled braves loafing lazily.

What was then the wild man's hunting ground has become the fertile fields or been transformed to the great metropolis with all the comforts of modern civilization. When Messrs. J. J. Downing and L. R. Scranton, the first white men to attempt to estaljlish a home near Spokane falls, came here in 1872, there were but few white men in the upper Spokane country. As far as we can trace, there were less than a dozen families within the confines and adjacent to the present county of Spoils kane. Mr. James Monaghan took charge of a ferry and subsequently built a bridge on the Spokane river about twenty miles Ix-low the city of Spokane at what is known as La Pray Ijridge in the early 'sixties. It is on the nnrtlnvestern corner of the county. At this place Mr. Monaghan planted the first orchard in tlic county, which is no\v in good bearing condition. Mr. Guy Haines settled at Walker's prairie on the original mission ground in 1862. Pie had been a quartermaster at Fort Vancouver and passed through the prairie on his way to Colville with General ?'.IcClellan a few years before this and had Ix'en impressed with the beauty of this spot. Mr. Haines lived on it till recently, and owns it still, but resides in Spokane. Mr. Haines testifies that when he passed through the Spokane valley from Walker's Prairie to Rathdrum in 1862-3 that a French Canadian by the name of Caniile lived about twelve miles east of the valley on the north (if Spokane, about where the Myfers place is now, two or three miles east of Trent.

Pie had been in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, and had an Indian wife. A son of his is now a sub-chief of the Coeur d' Alenes. There was also a French Canadian who had been in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Companv, liv the name of Ant(.iyne Phcnit. living on the south side of the river about twelve miles from the falls. He had an Indian wife, and reared a family, some of which are now livmg on the Flathead reserx'ation.

William Newman came to this country as early as i860 as an escort to the boundary surveyors. He was in the United States army, and had come this way from Fort Simcoe. He settled near the lake bearing his name, probably as early as 1865.

Mr. Stephen Lilierty came from Canada to Fort Benton, IMontana, in 1866. He was at Rathdrum in 1869. Soon after this he visited the lake now bearing his name. Liberty, fifteen miles east of the city. It seemed to him a veritable parailise for stock. He settled on the shores of the lake in 1871, and planted an orchard which is n(jw the McKenzie place.

Mr. Le Fevre and Mr. Labrie were the earliest settlers in the Medical lake country. They \\ere engaged in sheep-herding. Mr. il. M. Cowley settled .seventeen miles east of the city and started a general merchandise store in 1872 and continued in l)usincss at that point for some years until he removed to Spokane, where he has been identified with the Traders' National

The persons ahx'a<!y referred to, Messrs. L. R. Scranton and J. J. Downing, botli coming from the east, and a Mr. Benjamin, treated with the Indians in order to have their good will, and built a sawmill on the smith hank of the river near where the Phoenix mill is now located. Soon a lawyer by the name of L. S. Swift was on the scene. Lawyers are always si^'lft to see and be where there are prospects of jj-ood thing's. ;\lr. Swift went to California. Little has been recorded of these pioneers, or forerunners. It might be said with propriety that the real history of Spokane begins in the spring of 1S73. .\t that time Hon. James N. Glover arrived on the s])ot where now is the magic citv of the west and looked in wonder and delight on the rushing, plunging, foaming waters of Spokane ri\-er. leaping o\-er the falls into the canvnn lielnw. Mr. (llnser had resided at Salem. Oregon. He was led to this country primarily by two considerations - one was the health of himself and wife; the other a desire to find a grazing country or a sheep range. Early in ^lay. 1873, he left Portland, Oregon, and traveled by boat as far as Lewiston. He and his companion. Mr. J. X. Matheney, traveled northward on horseback. They moved along day In- day, surveying the country and pitching their tent wherever they happened to be at night. After leaving Colfax settlers were few and far between. When they reached near where Latah is toilay they found Major Wimpy just settling on a ranch. On the way the}' met a man by the name of Harvey Brown, who was carrying mail on horseback from Lewiston to Pond d'Oreille by way of Kendall bridge, afterwards known as Cowley bridge. They were told by Mr. Brown that Mr. Kendall desired to sell his interest in the I'ridge and his store, so they traveled in that direction, and reached the bridge on the day of Mr. Kendall's funeral. Seeing nothing to suit them at the bridge, they moved on toward the little settlement by the falls, arriving on the ] 2th of ]May. It was. on Sunday afternoon, and the weather was delightful, and after looking around and crossing the river in a pine log niiide into a canoe, about where the Division street Ijridge is, and taking in the lay of the land, they became infatuated with the place and its surroundings. Mr. Downing had sold his half interest to Mr. Benjamin for a consideration of two thousand dollars, but only t\nir hundred had been paid, with no prospects that more could be paid. Mr. Glover decided to buy Mr. llenjamin's interest and pay Mr. Downing the difTerence between four hundred dollars and t\\ o thousand dollars. Leaving Mr. Matheney on the ground, he went back to Salem for machinery and returned in August, coming overland by team from Wallula. He found things in such a condition as to make it advisable for him to purchase the other half interest in the mill and town site. The bargain was made, although the pai)ers had to be signed under the cover of darkness, the other ])arty being a fugitive from justice, charged with cattle and horse stealing. The .s(]uatter"s rights, the mill, the improvements and good will were purchased for four thousand dollars. At this time Walla Walla and Lewiston were the only towns in the region known as the Columbia valley. It w as very evident that there was to be a town of consideraljle impcjrtance in the near future somewhere in the "'upper country," and what sjjot so fitting as that beside the beautiful and mighty falls of Spokane?

The white settlers north of the Snake river w ere few in numl)er. of which the majority resided in the Colville valley, and had been employees of the Hudson's Bay Company. A fair estimate of the white population between the Snake ri\er rmd the British line, not counting the soldiers at Fort Colville. hardly exceeded three hundred. Nevertheless that the coun- try would soon be occupied by white people, .and that a great transformation was near at hand, was evident to foresighted men. Indeed the roar of the iron horse could almost be heard in the distance, and to a man of vision the Indian tepees were soon to disappear, and towering bricks to take their places.

Messrs. Glover and I\Iatheney were soon joined by Mr. C. F. Yeaton, of Portland, Oregon. ]Mr. Yeaton and wife are natives of Mas- .sachusetts, and now live near Seattle. Mrs. Mary Garrison, of Hopewell, Oregon, a sister of ]\Ir. Jasper X. ^latheney, kindly sent us a sketch of his life. He was born in Schuyler .county, Illinois, in 1834. and came to Orcgcjn with his parents when nine years old - 1843. Ahftv marrying, he settled in Salem and bought the ferry boat on the Willamette ri\er. He was sheriff of Marion county for four years, after which he came to Spokane. The Black Hills mining excitement led him to that country. From there he moved to California and then to Mexico. While on his way to the World's Exposition he died of dropsy of the liver in San Francisco and was buried in the Masonic cemetery. His youngest son, Guy, lives in ]\lexico. A niece, Mrs. Barrett, an artist, li\'es in this city, and has her studio in the Granite block. "

Tliey entered into partnership to operate the sawmill and do a merchandise business. This was the initiatory step which led to the making of this city the commercial centre of a vast empire. It was the day of small things as compared with the present, yet a great undertaking under the circumstances. Mr. Glover purchased wdiat seemed then a good stock of merchandise, and also some new' machinery for the mill. A lively business was done by the mill during the summer. ab(jut one hundred thousand feet of lumber being cut.

A store room and dwelling were erected. A few more settled in this region, mostly stockmen, but a few farmers. At the close of 1873 there might b.ave been one hundred souls in what now constitutes Spokane county. In addition to those already mentioned, there were Fliram Still, of the California ranch; William Spangle, proprietor of the tow'n of Spangle; Henry Kaiser, who led an eventful life, wdio lived on the Ellis place near Union Park; Maxime and Peter Muhmine, Daniel Courchaine. Frederick Post at Rathdrum. A mail route had been established from Levvistown via Colfax, I\Iaji)r R. H. Wimpy's on Upper Hangman Creek, the California ranch, Spokane Bridge, and Spokane Falls. Mr. Scranton was appointed the first postmaster, but the active one was Mrs. Swift. It was kept at her residence in a log cabin at the lower end of Post street. After Mr. Scranton's ignominious departure Mr. Yeaton was appointed and filled the position for three years. The prospect of the speedy coming of the Northern Pacific Railway gave reason for encouragement to the few courageous settlers, and stimulated their expectations. But these prospects were blighted in a great measure by the failure of the railroad magnate. Jay Cooke. In the midst of all these there came rumors of Indian outbreaks, and these were greatly magnified by the Portland and other papers. The people were filled with terror, which nearly resulted in a panic. Conditions appeared so serious and dangerous that some families living in the surrounding country went to Walla Walla. But the winter of 1873-4 passed without an Indian outbreak, or anything else of a serious nature beyond apprehensions. Among the most unpleasant experiences of the early settlers were the periodical rumors of Indian outbreaks, all of which proved groundless excepting the Nez Perce and Bannock outbreak of 1877-8. It is worthy of mention that probably the visit of Rev. H. H. Spalding among the Spokanes had something to do with influencing them to conduct themselves as they did. In October, 1874, Rev. H. T. Cowley and family arrived, which was quite an acquisition to the population. Mr. Cowley came as a missionarv to the Indians at the re- quest of Rev. Spalding, wlio had added to his charge the Spokanes at the request of the Presbyterian board. Mr. Pool and family arrived the day following the Cowleys, augmenting the population of Spokane Falls to fifteen persons.

In the fall the Spokane district in Stevens county was organized. It was one of great proportions, one hundred and fifty by one hundred miles, reaching from the Idaho line to the Columbia ri\er and from Spangle to Chewelah. The school had an attendance of four (luring the first term and j\Ir. H. T. Cowley was the teacher. In the organization of the district it necessitated the using of all the citizens to fill the offices.

During this year General Jeff. C. Uavis went through the place on his way to Fort Colville and the Indians honored him with a pow-wow in front of Glover's store. Christmas and New Year were made memorable. The preparations were elaborate. Wagons were sent to Lewiston and Walla \\"alla for Christmas presents and delicacies for the New Year dinner. The presents on the Christmas tree made the children happy, but hardly more so than the privilege of speaking their pieces. Both events were a great success. In 1875 Hon. Robert H. Wimpy was elected the first member of the Legislature for Stevens county, which then embraced Spokane. Lincoln, Douglas and Okanogan ; D. F. Percixal and L. W. Myers were elected countv commissioners; James N. Gltjver. justice of the peace; G. N. Hofstetter, sherift'. Colville was the county seat.

In May of this year Rev. S. G. Havermale visited the little settlement of the falls on his way to Colville on a preaching tour as presiding elder of tlie Methodist Episcopal church. He had met My. Cowley at Lewiston a }-ear before this. Mr. Havermale says : 'T made mv first visit to Spokane in ]\Iay, 1875. 'f came to pass in this way. Mr. A\'. Park Winans. who had been residing at Col\-ille as Indian agent, met me at Walla Walla and urged me to make a trij) to the Colville country. He informed me that some of the people were very anxious to have a Protestant preacher visit them. One day he said to me, 'I will give you twenty dollars to help pay your expenses to the upper country.' That settlecl it. A young man there, not a professed Christian, showingsomuchinterestgreatly impressed me." I\Ir. \\'inans is to-day one of the most prominent and respected citizens of Walla \\'alia and one of the most earnest and generous members of the Cumberland Presbyterian clun-cii. - [Editor.] Mr. Havermale, continuing his narrative, says, "I started witii a young man with me. There were only Indian trails then. We camped one night near where Spangle now is. Tiie next day, after travelling about ten miles, we met a man somewhere about where Cheney is located and intjuired the way to tiie lower bridge - the La Pray bridge. But he directed us to tlie upper bridge, informing us that he had made the journey to Colville and back that way in one day, making about two hundred and forty miles." Mr. Havermale says in his jovial manner. "He must have a wonderful horse. But by being misdirected we came to the falls of Spokane. We met Messrs. Glover and Yeaton, who kept a small store about where the Windsor Block' is to-day, across the street from the City Hall. When we told them that we were on our way to Colville. and had been directed to go by way of the upper bridge, they pronounced it impossible. On describing our informant they laughted, saying that he had never told the truth Init once in his life, and had gone se\enty-fi\e miles on horseback to take it back."

"How did things appear to you then, Mr. Havermale?" "The scenes and location ch;u-nicd me. The falls were magnificent, the water lieing quite high at that time of the year. You can have no idea to-day how it looked then. The open beautiful prairie was delightful to look upon, covered with thick grass and wild flowers. The grass was up ,to my knees where the hig Ijlocks n()W are. I fell in love with the place and ahout decided to settle here there and then. I preaclied here and then we moved on toward Colville hy way of the lower bridge, and preached at Colville and Chewelah. and in due time returned to Walla Walla. In November of the same year I removed my family here and settled on a quarter-section of land. We built our first log house, 18x26. near the banks of the river, about the corner of Front avenue and Bernard street." This was the second quarter-section entered upon in what now constitutes the city of S]X)kane. The southeast corner of the quarter-section is now corner of Sprague a\'cnue and L)i\'ision street, northeast, across the street, fn >m the S. F. & N. depot, southwest corner at the city hall, reaching riorth half a mile. Mr. Ha\ermale"s claim included nearly all tlie water power excepting the big falls. It tonk in all the Big Island, now Havermale Island, which Mr. Havermale describes as especially picturesque in its natral state, co\-ered with trees and thick grass. The city council named the three islands, the largest, Havermale : the second in size, on which the Echo mill is. Glover, and the third, or smallest, near the Centennial mill. Cannon. The summer was \-ery dull, without the increase of jiopulation that was expecterl, antl the winter was a severe one.

Early in 1876, ]Mr. Frederick Post and family removed from Rathdrum westwanl here. His name will always be associaicl with this city as the one who built and opciated the first grist mill. Mr. Post is now enjoying vigorous old age at Post Falls, Idaho, showing the same enterprising spirit as in days gone l)y. In view of the ad\antages expected to accrue from the mill, Mr. Post recei\-ed forty acres of the one hundreil and twenty acres town site, with water pnwer and use of the saw-mill to manufacture the necessary lumber. Little was done on the grist mill that year. Mr. (ilover erected a new store building with .second story adapted for a hall. It was ready for the 4th of July celebration, which has found its place in history as a "grand affair," and attended by people from the Snake ri\cr tn British Columljia. In the fall three new families were welcomed.

The spring of 1877 indicated but faint prospects of an im|>roved condition. The town firm did not find their business sufficiently profitable to continue in partnership, therefore a dissolution took place, Mr. (ilover buying out the others.

This was the year of the Xez Perces outbreak. The whole population of the upper country was terrified by the massacre of the Salmon Ri\-er settlers. The settlers around Walla Walla and Colfax flocked to these towns for refuge. S(jme removed from this region to the towns mentioned. .-\t Colfax a Company nf minute men was organized. A state of terror reigned here from June 27th to _\ugust lotli. The town people and settlers aroimd assembled together and after deliberation retired to the Big Island and there erected a hasty fort for defense. But they onlv remained aljout a week on the island, the demeanor of the Spokanes being such as to almost insure safety, .\ugust lOth brought jov ti~^ every heart, for (leneral Wheaton with fi\-e hundred soldiers arrived. It was a \y.irtion of General O. O. Howard's army, the other portion Ijeing engaged in pursuing the Indians across the Bitter Root mountains. Tb.e United States troops under General AMieaton encamped between Riverside avenue and the river. Mr. Edward Knipe, 304 Mansfield avenue, was one of them and a noncommissioned officer. A grand council of all the Indians of eastern Washington and northerii Iilaho was called. There was a response on the i)art of every tribe except the Moses band. Tliough it cannot be said that the council accomplished anything directly, never- theless it practically fulfilled its purpose. The sight of the trodps encouraged the settlers and exerted a restraining influence over the Indians. In Septemlier (General W. T. Sherman passed through with an escort of fifty men. Those who came in contact with him did not haye reason to l)elieve that he was fayorably impressed with this Incation. At least he did not manifest any enthusiasm. But it is said that when he reached Cieur d' Alene lake his delight was unlxmnded. It was there that he located the furt that bore liis name until it was aljandoned. After travelling southward and taking in the lay of the country, the General ordered two comjianies (.)f infantry to l)e stationed at Spokane, instead of at T'alouse Cit}'. as at first intended. In October the troops were in temporary (|uarters and their presence appreciatc<l. The\' contributed considerably in making a marked contrast in appearance as compared with the pre\-ious winter. During the fall a number of new families arri\ed - Percixals. Herbert Myron, Majors, Rima and Masterson. And in the meantime Mr. Post had com])leted his mill and was making tlour, and thus the peo- ])le were supplied with the "st.'iff of life." The spring of 1878 witnessed the departure of the troops to their permanent (|uarters at Fort Sherman, near Coeur d" .Vlene City, which greatly depleted the p()i)ulation, but that was balanced by quite an inflowing of new settlers. Among the new arri\-als were Captain J. M. Nosier, W. C. Cray, Dr. L. P. ^Vaterhouse, A. E. Ellis, A. M. Cannon and J. J. Brown. The two persons last mentioned. Cannon and Brown. i)urchased a joint interest in the town site and became conspicuous and potent agencies in the development of it. It may be said that Spokane Falls en. tered upon a new era at this time. Cannon. Warner & Co. opened a store with an extensi\'e stock of goods, being the successors of GIo\-er & Co. W. C. Gray erected a .small frame hotel which was called the California House. It was for years considered the only first-class hotel in the city and was enlarged and improved to keep pace with other developments. It was located on the site (if the City Hall and was known before the great fire as the Windsor Hotel. The California House was opened on Thanksgiving night with a "grand" ball which was generously patronized for the proceeds were applied to pay for the school building then in course of construction near the corner of Post street and First a\-enue.

The _\'ear 1879 brought with it new hopes and sanguine expectations. This was caused 1)\ the resurvey of the Northern Pacific Railroad with prospects of speedy construction tliis way. The realization of long-expected prosperity seemed near at hand. The new town had attracted the attention of an enterprising \oung newspaper man. Hon. Francis H. Cook, then member of the Territorial Legislature from Pierce county, started the first paper, the Spokane Times. We have l)een told that Mr. Cook made it a matter of conscience to omit the "e" from Spokane. The paper was published in a building on southeast corner Howard and Riverside streets.

The town was now beginning to assume the shape of a city, with Howard street as the center of business. The stores were becoming quite numerous. On Howard were F. A. Moore & Co., J. F. Graham, Friedenrich & Bey, .\rthur & .Shaner. J. N. Squires. McCammon & Whitman, R. W. Forest. N. P. Hotel. The bnildin.gs were (|uite modest as compared with to-day. Some only one story high and none over two stories. L'. Ziegler, Clark & Richards and Percival & Corbaley had stores on Main street, and Dawn & Comelious on Front street.

The first liank north of the Snake river was opened in June of this year by A. M. Cannon. joining the store building, corner Front and Howard streets facing Howard. This win- ter tlie Legislature authorized the creation of Spokane county and fixed the county seat at Spokane Falls. sul.)ject ti:> confirmation hy the ballots of the people the following year.

On the 3rd of June of this year Colonel D. P. Jenkins arrived. He was the first settler on the north side in what is now included in the city. He entered upi:in what is now Jenkins' addition, first as preemption, afterwards changing it to a homestead and taking advantage of the time he served in the army. The first temporary building was erected i:)n the banks of the river. almost directly south of the college buildings. He also built the first real house on the north side in 1S81, a part of which still stands on Mallon a\-enue near Lincoln street.. It was originally located a few rods northeast of wliere it now is. on a spot where previously a temporary Iniilding had been erected, Ijut had been removed.

Mr. S. Heath arrived in the city early this year, l.nit did not settle on his land until the following year. The Spokan Times for December, 1879, says -

"For the first time in the history of Spokan Falls, it has been decided to have a public Christmas tree and entertainment on next Christmas e\'e. The management will l>e in the hands <jf the officers and friends of the Sabbath schciol. 'j'he following committees ha\e been ap])oinlcil and accepted l.iy the school :